The Darkest Whisper (Lords of the Underworld #4)(54)
Author: Gena Showalter

“Oh.” Was that disappointment in her tone? “I was hoping for Sex, or whatever you call him. The stories of his conquests are my favorite.”

Yep, disappointment. “I’ll introduce you.” Maybe a good bedding from Paris would lighten the woman’s attitude. For that matter, maybe a good bedding from the woman would lighten Paris’s attitude.

“Don’t bother. I won’t be here long enough to make any memories. Gwen.” In the next instant, Gwen’s body was quaking against him.

The sister was f**king shaking her, he realized with a snarl. Sabin latched on to the Harpy’s wrist. “Stop. You’ll hurt her worse.”

Abruptly the knife left him, her arm ripping free of his grip, and the light was switched on. His eyes watered and he blinked. The Harpy was once again at his neck, but he hadn’t had time to move.

When his vision cleared, he studied her. She was lovely, her skin as luminous as Gwen’s was. But for some reason, Sabin wasn’t transfixed, wasn’t overcome with the urge to bed her. She had bright red hair, not streaked with blond like Gwen’s. They possessed the same amber-gray eyes, though, and the same sensual red lips. Yet where innocence always drifted from Gwen, this woman pulsed with centuries of knowledge and power.

“Listen,” he began, only to be silenced as the knife cut past his skin.

“No. You listen. I’m Kaia. Be glad it’s me who’s wielding the blade rather than Bianka or Taliyah. You phoned Bianka, refused to let her speak with Gwennie, and now she wants to beat you—with your own limbs. Taliyah wants to feed you to our snakes, piece by piece. Me, I’m willing to give you a chance to explain. What were your plans for her?”

He could talk, tell her what she wanted to know, but he wouldn’t. Not like this. If Gwen’s sisters were going to hang around—for despite Kaia’s anger, he thought that they would—and if they were going to fight for him, he had to assert himself as commander.

Without even a twitch of muscle to alert her to his plans, Sabin jerked Kaia on top of him. The blade sank deep, hit a tendon, but he didn’t slow. He rolled her over, away from Gwen, and pinned her with his muscled weight.

Rather than fight him, she laughed, the tinkling sound like candy for his ears. “Smooth move. No wonder she’s in your bed. Must say I’m a little disappointed you didn’t go for my head, though. I expected better of a Lord of the Underworld.”

The bouncing mattress must have finally woken Gwen, because she gasped weakly. Croaked out, “Kaia?”

Kaia shifted her attention, a beauteous smile playing at her lips. “Hiya, baby. Long time no see. And I know you’re thinking I’m mad at you right now for falling asleep, but you’re wrong. I know where to place the blame. In fact, your man and I were just working out a few details about your stay here. How are you?”

“You’re underneath him. You’re underneath Sabin.” Gwen’s pupils were bleeding into gold…white…Her nails were elongating, sharpening. Her teeth gleamed menacingly in the light.

Kaia gaped. “She’s…is she really…”

“Yep. Going Harpy.” Shit. Sabin shoved Kaia from the bed with all of his might. She landed on the floor with a thwack, but he didn’t care. The moment his arms were free, he pulled Gwen into the heat of his body, one hand winding loosely around her neck and caressing her face, the other stroking the soft contours of her belly, where her shirt had ridden up.

Those claws latched on to his shoulders and sank all the way to bone, but he gave no reaction to the pain. She could have done far, far worse.

“We were only talking. I wasn’t going to hurt her. I pinned her to get her blade out of my neck, nothing more. She’s here to help you, wants the best for you.”

“Do you want her?” Gwen rasped.

Bastard that he was, he was pleased by her jealousy. “No. I don’t. And she doesn’t want me, either. I swear it. You know I only want you.”

From the corner of his eye, he saw that Kaia had stood and was now watching him raptly.

Gradually, Gwen’s nails receded, leaving wide, bleeding gashes. Her gaze cleared. And through it all, Doubt was strangely silent. Like, dead silent, as if it had hidden in the deepest part of Sabin’s mind.

“Wow,” Kaia finally said, and there was an edge to her tone. “Impressive. You talked a Harpy from her rage. You know what that means, don’t you?”

He didn’t spare her a glance. He kept his attention on Gwen and slid his hand down her leg, then he angled her so that her knee was propped on his hip, cradling their lower bodies together. “No. I don’t.”

“You’re my sister’s consort. Congratulations.”

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

GWEN HAD NEVER BEEN more nervous in her life. Not in her prison cell. Not even when she’d faced the Hunters with Sabin.

After watching Sabin calm the Harpy, Kaia had summoned Bianka and Taliyah with a sharp whistle. Apparently, they’d been in the hallway, making sure no one approached while Kaia rescued Gwen. Then the three sisters had barricaded themselves inside Sabin’s bedroom for a little “chat.”“No one else knows we’re here,” Bianka had said. “So it’s just gonna be the five of us.”

Gwen would have protested the coming chat, the isolation—this kind of scenario always ended in bloodshed for the Skyhawks—but several things stopped her. One, Sabin had a death grip on her, keeping her pinned against his side. Why? Did he think she would race to her sisters and demand they slaughter him? Two, she was as weak as a newborn kitten, barely able to hold up her eyelids. Plus, her shoulder and chest burned painfully. If Sabin had let her go, she would have collapsed against the headboard. And three, she planned to be brave one more time and act as Sabin’s shield. If her sisters, who were angry at her treatment and seemed to have conveniently forgotten they’d once admired the Lords, came after him…

Why she cared, she didn’t know. Only minutes ago, he’d been embracing Kaia. Hadn’t he? The memory was fuzzy, as if she’d watched the couple on a screen rather than in real life. Real or not, though, it had pissed the hell out of her. Sabin belonged to Gwen. For now, at least. And not because they’d showered together and he’d given her the best orgasm of her life. But because, well, she didn’t know. He just did.

“Before we start talking, let’s take care of baby girl.” Kaia strode to her now, cutting her wrist along the way, and held it to Gwen’s mouth. “Drink.”